1. Technical Field
The application relates to a beverage bottling plant for filling bottles with a liquid beverage filling material, and a container filling plant container information adding station, such as, a labeling station having a sleeve label cutting arrangement, configured to add information to containers, such as, bottles and cans.
2. Background Information
A beverage bottling plant for filling bottles with a liquid beverage filling material can possibly comprise a beverage filling machine with a plurality of beverage filling positions, each beverage filling position having a beverage filling device for filling bottles with liquid beverage filling material. The filling devices may have an apparatus being configured to introduce a predetermined volume of liquid beverage filling material into the interior of bottles to a substantially predetermined level of liquid beverage filling material, and the apparatus configured to introduce a predetermined flow of liquid beverage filling material comprising apparatus being configured to terminate the filling of beverage bottles upon liquid beverage filling material reaching said substantially predetermined level in bottles. There may also be provided a conveyer arrangement being configured and disposed to move bottles, for example, from an inspecting machine to the filling machine. Upon filling, a closing station closes filled bottles. There may further be provided a conveyer arrangement configured to transfer filled bottles from the filling machine to the closing station; as well as a loading station that is configured to load filled bottles into containers, for example, in a six-pack arrangement. There may also be provided a conveyor arrangement configured to transfer filled bottles from the closing station to the loading station.
In the packaging of wares of diverse sorts, such as, for example, beverages or items of food, it has been found highly advantageous to configure the containers in which such wares are offered as advantageously and appealingly as possible. Aside from configuration of the body of containers, the container labeling, that is ever increasing in display, also plays an increasingly important role.
For the identification of containers that are symmetrical with reference to an axis of rotation, such as, bottles or cans, aside from other types of labels, also labels are used that are introduced to the labeling station in the form of an endless tube that is made of a thin elastic plastic. This tube is initially disposed as a flat folded band as a roll on a roller. Prior to positioning on the container that is to be labeled, the label tube needs to be widened to a round configuration and needs to be cut in accordance with the label length. For this, the cutting device rotates about the label tube that has been placed onto a round mandrel and respectively severs a label, while the introduced tube is for a moment at a still-stand. The cut label is then pulled, just like a stocking, over the container and tightly adheres, due to its elasticity, to the outer surface of the container.
Modern labeling stations process several ten-thousands of units per hour. Thus, for cutting of a label, including all the associated transport and positioning procedures, there is available a time of less than 100 milliseconds.
Known cutting devices operate with an arrangement comprising a round disc that rotates about the label tube, which disc carries a plurality of knives. The knives are connected to an additional mass as well as to a return spring. The number of revolutions of the disc is changed by the drive means between two values, a low value, in which the cutting knives do not contact the label tube (rest position) and a higher value, in which the knives are swung into the cutting position. For this, the masses that are connected to the knife and the spring forces are dimensioned in such a way that at a low number of revolutions the force of the spring applies as the greater force and the spring holds the knife in the rest position, while at a higher number of revolutions, the centrifugal force of the mass that is connected to the knife applies as the greater force and the knife is swung into the cutting position.
Disadvantages of the known arrangement reside in the high periodic forces that are required for acceleration and for deceleration of the entire mass of the knife-holder together with the knives between the two numbers of revolutions, as well as the time periods that are required for the acceleration procedures. The acceleration time periods are not available for the actual cutting as such. Since an increase of the frequency of cutting can only be achieved by raising the motor effort or, respectively, a lowering of the masses that need to be accelerated, the cutting step limits the operating frequency of the entire labeling station.